On March 20, 2003, the war became more serious as land, sea, and air assaults were launched on Iraq. America, the big power, and its poodle, Britain, will defeat this fifth class country that stands alone, and they will boast of a major victory. If there were no so much sufferance behind it, it would be laughable. They bombed Baghdad and the other big cities, and they are progressing north on the ground. Basra will soon be taken opening the road to Baghdad. Many Iraqi soldiers are surrendering without fighting. What is the use anyway, they do not have the equipment that the US and the British have. They will soon be part of an American colony, the same way that Afghans are already. Blair was not consulted by the USA on the timing of the attack, he was only told a very short time in advance. It is all a poodle can expect from his master.
There were some voices on March 20, 2003 that Saddam Hussein died in the first bombing of Baghdad but the information was not confirmed. Iraq launched many Scud missiles with conventional warheads against Kuwait, but without any consequences. Turkey is sending tanks and troops to its border with Iraq despite protest by the US and Britain. In fact, there are already some indications that Turkish troops have crossed the border, and are already in Iraq where they want to prevent a Kurdish autonomous government. Of course, they say that they go there for humanitarian purposes only. Turkey has given the USA and Britain the right to use its airspace, but not its soil or the use of their bases, even refuelling. As a result Turkey will loose an economic aid package worth up to $30bn in direct aid and loans. British and US are questioning Turkey's legal right to enter Iraq although they invaded Iraq without authorisation of the UN Security Council. Of course, the majority of the Americans support Bush as long as no American soldiers are killed. Iraqi dead do not count, they are only collateral damage.
As The Guardian said on March 21, 2003, the US and UK have launched a full-blooded onslaught on Baghdad, as "shock and awe" was unleashed. Hundred of bombs and missiles fell on the capital, mainly during the night. One must recognise, if the British television stations and newspapers can be trusted, that high precision bombs were used, and that they were aimed at military and government buildings. All the same the trauma on the Iraqi must be terrible. A journalist went to say that 30 years of Saddam Hussein was razed in 10 minutes.
A US Sea Knight helicopter went down in northern Kuwait on March 21, 2003, in what is apparently an accident, and 12 soldiers were killed, 8 British and 4 Americans. At the same time the British and the American troops were moving north towards Baghdad, meeting some resistance, but not enough to slow them down. Basra was surrounded, the Faw peninsula was taken, and the important harbour of Umm Qasr is still holding on, but it will soon fall. An American flag was flying above Umm Qasr but, after British protest, it was taken down as the British want to appear as liberators of Iraq, and not invaders!! The pictures of Saddam Hussein were torn down everywhere by British and American soldiers with, very often, the help of Iraqi civilians who seem quite happy to get rid of their leader. It looks like the Iraqi are only trying to slow down the advance of the invaders. It could be that they want to take then on farther north, possibly in Baghdad. Mosul and Kirkuk in the north have been bombed too, after special US troops had secured the oil fields around Kirkuk. There were reports of civilians being killed and wounded, but their number is not known with accuracy. This is also the case number of Iraqi soldiers killed. There are reports of many Iraqi soldiers surrendering, but these information are to be taken with care, as the propaganda machine is on full swing on the British and American side. Some oil fields have been put on fire, but not as many as feared. It is not clear yet if Saddam Hussein was killed or wounded in the first night attack on Baghdad.
On March 22, 2003, we were told that a limited number of US Special Forces are already in Baghdad; their aim is to locate targets, and guide the bombing. In the meantime, thousands of elite troops loyal to Saddam Hussein are preparing themselves to defend the capital. In the battle for Basra, large number of Iraqi soldiers are said to have surrendered, but should we believe it, or is it only propaganda? The US forces are said to be within 150 miles from Baghdad. There is no doubt that Iraq will be invaded and defeated, but it looks like it will not be so easy. Some people are still loyal to Saddam and are defending their country against the foreign invaders. Some others, of course, are greeting the Americans. Many refugees are on their way around and out of Iraq, and a food crisis is not impossible. Many Iraqi soldiers, and even some civilians, are opposing the invaders, some American soldiers have been killed, and at least five taken prisoners on March 23, 2003. The exact number of casualties is unknown. Luckily these five prisoners, including a woman, and two men captured when their plane crashed in Iraq, were released unhurt on April 12. 2003. They complained that they had been badly treated, but they did not mention anything special.
An ITV journalist, Terry Lloyd, his cameraman Fred Nerac, and a local translator, Hussein Othman, went missing on March 22, 2003, and presumed death. A cameraman who travelled with them, Daniel Demoustier, was injured. He said that their car was slow down by Iraqi soldiers who wanted to surrender. All, including the soldiers, but with the exception of Demoustier, were killed by so-called "friendly fire"!! It is not known who were responsible, the British or the Americans, but the probabilities are that the Americans did it again! ITV suspended all its reporting teams covering the war. On the same day one American and six British soldiers were killed when two British Royal Navy helicopters from the aircraft carrier Ark Royal collided in mid-air. More demonstrations against the war took place all over the world this Saturday with 200,000 walking through central London. At the same time, the British consumers bought more goods due to fear of war, and the risk of inflation and tax increases. Stock markets have gone up all over the world during the week from 17 to 21 March as investors believe that the war will be over soon. On March 24 it seemed that this assumption was too optimist, the stock market index went down again, and the Euro went up slightly.
On March 23, 2003, the battle for Umm Qasr was still going on, and it was still impossible to use the harbour to bring supplies and humanitarian aids. Nassiriya was also resisting to the invaders, holding the advance of the American troops toward Baghdad. As The Guardian said, "it is much tougher that it seemed". In Baghdad it is becoming clear that the bombing was not as precise as thought, and many houses were destroyed. According to the US propaganda machine, the fate of Saddam Hussein is still unknown: he could have been killed in the first bombing of Iraq, but there is no evidence of it.
The battle for Baghdad started on March 24, 2003, with the Americans bombing the Iraqi Republican Guard bunkers. Now the real battle could very well begin, as the Americans will have in front of them the best Iraqi troops. They do not have the same high-level equipment as the US troops, but they are known for never giving up and surrendering. Obviously the regime did not collapse straight away, as foreseen and hoped in Washington and London. It looks like some Iraqis prefer Saddam Hussein to the US and British occupation armies. Anybody who had been through the same experience can agreed, the others do not understand. The hopes for a joyful liberation of a grateful Iraq and a flag waving reception of the US and British armies are fast evaporating in the Euphrates valley. There are some bitterness at the number of Iraqis -soldiers and civilians- killed and a growing sense of humiliation among the local population. At the same time the support for war among the British population increases. In one week it increased from 38 to 54%, while those who disapprove are reduced from 44 to 30%. It is a normal reaction in the UK where the population generally supports its soldiers while they are fighting.
The British decided not to enter central Basra and to only take the highway to Baghdad that crosses it suburbs. Meanwhile, Basra is in the hands of Iraqis ready to die for Saddam Hussein. They want to prevent the creation of a corridor to transport supply to the troops and aid to the population from the harbour of Umm Qasr -that is still not fully open as part of the old town is still in Iraqi hands. The British troops will have to fight to fully open it. The race to Baghdad has left the long supply line from Kuwait unprotected and fragile. In the meantime the population of Basra has no water, food or electricity, and this could create medical problems.
A US helicopter Apache was shot down over Iraq apparently by a local farmer. The Iraqi television showed its two crewmen that are now joining other five American servicemen who are now prisoners.
The British had decided not to take Basra but they had to change their mind as the Iraqi were using it as a base to attack the supply line and the troops. On Tuesday 25 March 2003 the British started a full-scale artillery assault on the town. There were some reports that the Shia population revolted against the Iraqi troops who fired on the civilians. It was not yet clear if the report was true, or only a propaganda message. The Shia population has until now revolted in large number against Saddam Hussein's regime. This is probably due to the fact that in 1991 they revolted in answer to a promise of help by the coalition, but as soon as the war was over the Shia were left to themselves and many were killed by Saddam. Now they are more careful. What is true is that Basra has no running water and no electricity and the population is hungry. At the same time, more to the north, the American advance was halted by a sand storm that cut the visibility to a few meters. The US Marines captured an Iraqi military hospital in Nassiriya found about three thousand of chemical protection suits and some nerve gas antidote (atropine). This raised fear that the Iraqi could use chemical weapons in the future. Two British tank crewmembers were killed and two other critically injured after their Challenger 2 tank was shot at by another British tank in southern Iraq. The US A claims that about 500 Iraqi soldiers have been killed in the two-day battle over the Shia holy city of Najaf 100 miles south of Baghdad; some American soldiers were wounded but there were no dead among them.
On March 26, 2003, it was obvious that the people of Iraq were beginning to suffer from lack of food, water and medicines. A ship loaded with emergency aid for the civilians, the British Sir Galahad, has not been able to enter the harbour of Umm Qasr because the Iraqi mined the access channels. Hungry civilians are fighting between themselves to get the little that is already available in Iraq.
On March 26, 2003, the battle for Basra is still going on and it could last for many more days although the British artillery and planes are bombing it all the time. An Iraqi convoy of about 120 tanks and other military vehicles drove out of Basra southeast towards the Faw peninsula. American and British planes bombed the column but they did not surrender although some vehicles were destroyed. At night they dispersed in the open countryside. Elsewhere the run to Baghdad is slowed down as the militia is resisting obliging the USA and Britain to change tactics as there are no doubt that they are surprised by the Iraqi willingness to fight with the arms they have. The war was foreseen to be over in a few days as revolt against Saddam Hussein's regime was given for certain. This is not the case as even the Shia who oppose Saddam are defending their country against the foreign invaders. The war could last a rather long time even if, in the end, the Americans and the British will win.
On March 26, 2003, about 1,000 American paratroopers were dropped into the Kurdish controlled zone to take control of an airfield. This would allow planes to bring some more troops that would open a second front in the north of Iraq. They joined hundred of American special force soldiers who have been in the region for many weeks. It is known that the Kurdish militia will fight with the Americans. They look like the Northern Alliance troops in Afghanistan doing again the dirty work for the USA.
During their meeting in Washington on Thursday March 27, 2003, Bush and Blair discussed above all the future conduct of the war. There is no doubt that Iraq will be defeated, but it seems also certain that all the Iraqis will not welcome the American and British invaders.
In northern Iraq, on March 27, 2003, it was clear that the Kurds would collaborate fully with the Americans including doing the heavy fighting for them. At the same time in Basra, the British said that they had destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks.
On March 28, 2003, the American military leaders admitted that the resistance offered by the Iraqi troops has upset their "Quick war plans". The war in Iraq will last longer that foreseen and will require more troops. It is believed that the US will bring about 100,000 more as soon as possible. In fact the advance on Baghdad has been stopped for a few days to allow new troops to arrive as well as the necessary supplies. The supply line is about 350 miles long; it is overstretched to the breaking point due to the Iraqi attacks along it, as well as the effects of storms -both rain and sand. Some American soldiers already complaint that the food is not what they expect!!
On March 28, 2003, an US jet killed another British soldier. An American A10 tank buster aircraft shot at two British tanks on patrol killing one soldier and injuring seriously five others. So far 23 British soldiers have been killed in Iraq but only four of them in combat. The 19 others died in accidents or by "friendly fire". In addition another British journalist and a photographer -Matthew McAllester and Moise Saman- working for an American newspaper are missing in Iraq. They disappeared from their hotel after having been expelled. Another American photographer, Molly Bingham and a Danish freelance photographer, Johan Rydeng Spanner, are also missing. The four media people were found sound and safe in Jordan about April 1, 2003. They were kept in the Abu Ghraib prison just outside Baghdad for eight days and, according to what they said, rather well treated given the circumstances, but they said that other prisoners were tortured and beaten outside their cells!
The first ten British militaries who died in Iraq arrived at the RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire airport today March 29, 2003. Eight died when their US helicopter crashed south of the Kuwaiti border and the two airmen were killed by a patriot missile shot by the Americans! They were received with all the military honours. The same day Saddam Hussein said that he had up to 4,000 suicide martyr volunteers ready to blow themselves up for Allah in the USA and Britain, hoping to kill as many people as possible.
Despite that the media report that the US advance on Baghdad had stopped for a few days, the US leadership claims on March 29 2003, that the war is going on as foreseen and that their troops are ready to assault Baghdad. It is a fact that the supply lines are overstretched and under Iraqi attack. It was never foreseen that the war would last more that a few days so re-supplying the troops was not necessary. On the opposite the Iraqi defend their land, they are prepared to fight for Baghdad, and the war could last from a few weeks to a few months with heavy lost of life on both sides. Another reason for the advance being provisionally stopped is due to the fact that more troops are needed and it will take a few weeks to bring them to the front.
At the end of March 2003, the battles for Basra, Nasiriya, Najaf and Karbala are still going on without any clear and well-defined results as the Iraqi defend themselves, their towns and their territory. At the same time Donald Rumsfeld has to defend himself against the accusation that he imposed his own views on the military leaders on the war strategy, the amount of troops needed as well as the type of equipment. It is believed that the generals wanted some more time before starting the war after Turkey refused to let the US attacks northern Iraq from their territory but that Rumsfeld ordered them to attack at the date foreseen. Of course, Donald Rumsfeld, and the main US generals, proclaimed that this was not the case.
On April 1, 2003, the American troops are moving closer to Baghdad although the resistance of the Iraqi is very strong and in any case much stronger that expected. Moreover there are no sign that the population is seeing the US and British troops as anything else but invader and the regime does not appear to collapse in anyway.
On April 2, 2003, the US troops were about 20 miles from Baghdad and the battle for the control of the heart of the Iraqi regime will start soon. The British forces are still fighting for Basra that seems well defended. Obviously the local population does not want to be "liberated" American style, even by proxy through the British. It is difficult to believe that they hate Saddam Hussein to that point. The Americans are now saying that the Iraqi soldiers are hiding to the mosques and other religious shrines as well as in the schools and hospitals to fight the invaders. Soon the propaganda will tell us that they are eating small children, their own and the American people will believe it too! On the other hand the Republican Guard is nowhere to be seen fighting. Do they reserve themselves for the battle in Baghdad? The US and British leaders are afraid that a fight street by street and house by house in Baghdad could be a nightmare with heavy casualty. A convoy of non-Iraqi Muslins who were volunteers to fight in Iraq was attacked by US planes and many of them died before reaching Baghdad and starting fighting.
On April 3, 2003, the light went off in Baghdad. One does not know if this was due to the bombing or if the Iraqi switch off the electricity for their own unknown reason. The same night the American troops reached Saddam Hussein International Airport. The American changed its name straight away. They did not dare to call it George Bush International Airport so they settled for Baghdad International Airport. Once taken, the airport will be a good departure point to invade Baghdad. However it is not yet known what the Americans intend to do, enter the capital or put it under siege.
The US and British troops are winning battle after battle; it is what we are told anyway. However Basra is still resisting and the British have to be happy with occupying some suburbs, for the moment. On the other hand the US troops have still some problems in some towns that they have "taken" or by-passed: Nassiriya, Najaf,
The leading Shia Muslim cleric in Iraq called on Iraqi not to resist the Americans and British anymore. By this new edict, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani reversed his previous order to fight for the homeland. This was welcome news for the invaders.
Another US Navy F-18C Hornet jet has been shot down over Iraq by Patriot missiles. Not only the Americans shoot at the British but they also shoot at their own troops. And this is the third incident with Patriot missiles, what is called "friendly fire". There seems to be some confusion among them or, any plane shot down is a good point for the gunner, independently of the nationality.
The British took over the holiday villa of Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as Chemical Ali for supervising the killing by poison gas of about 5,000 Kurds in 1986. He is Saddam Hussein cousin and one of his most faithful associates. His villa was very luxurious, big and very comfortable. Built in the middle of the poor houses that the ordinary Iraqi can afford it was a sore point for the population of Basra. They took their revenge by looting it and breaking what could not be taken away.
The British and the American forces have been forced to use cluster bombs against targets close to civilian habitations. The British, agreed that they use these bombs, but they justified themselves by saying that this type of bombs is required in some cases and that not using them would put the British troops at risk. This is really a poor justification but it is all that the Defence minister, Hoon, could find. Two planes carrying 24 injured British troops flew to Edinburgh on April 3, 2003. Eleven will be treated in hospitals in Scotland, two in England and eleven are well enough to be send home to recover.
Among the casualties and chaos suddenly, on April 4, 2003, a man who looked and presented himself as Saddam Hussein appeared in the streets of Baghdad. He shook hands with ordinary people and even kissed a baby, American style. Of course, nobody can be certain -less of all the Americans- that it was Saddam himself as it is well known that he uses many look-alikes, but the local people recognised him as such. He asked the Iraqi to repel the invaders and fight in Baghdad. At the same time the Iraqi leadership threatened the invaders with "unconventional attack" in and around Baghdad. This was interpreted as a threat of chemical and biological weapons. A few days ago the US propaganda machine boasted that they finally had discovered forbidden chemical or biological substances in rather large quantity. Unfortunately they had to admit, after analysing the powder, that it was atropine, more like a defence against such warfare. In the meantime the airport was completely secured by American forces that are about to encircle Baghdad. Three American Special Forces soldiers and two Iraqi -who care?- were killed in a suicide attack when a car exploded at a checkpoint in central Iraq, close to the Haditha Dam, north west of Baghdad. A pregnant woman stepped out of a car screaming and a moment later the car blew up.
On Saturday April 5, 2003, the US tanks moved and stormed into the Baghdad suburbs without meeting strong resistance. In fact it looks like the Americans can do what they want, when they want and where they want. It is not astonishing as the USA is a much bigger, stronger and more powerful country that Iraq. However the Iraqi are still doing what they can to defend their country. Strange enough the Iraqi Information minister continues to affirm that the American troops are not in Baghdad and are defeated when, with the television, the opposite is obvious.
In Northern Iraq at the beginning of April 2003, the Kurds and their military arm, the peshmerga, are now involved in the war with the help of a few American Special Forces. They are trying to take over Mosul and Kirkuk. But friendly American fire is there for them too. Eighteen peshmerga fighters were killed and many more wounded when an American plane bombed them while they were going towards the front in a convoy of cars, some of them driven by American troops. The leader of the 20,000 peshmerga Kurdish fighters, Wajid Barzani, the brother of the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic party (KDP) was badly wounded. The Americans should use the Boy Scout motto: "always ready to kill somebody, friends or foes".
On Sunday April 6, 2003, the US tanks forced their way into Baghdad. They did not stay there, they just tested the Iraqi resistance and there was not very much of it. At the same time the British in Basra are preparing themselves to take the town after more that two weeks playing around killing Iraqi -soldiers and civilians alike. This time they destroyed the Ba'ath party headquarters. At the same time the Iraqi Information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sharaf was still saying that the Americans were loosing the war and were being defeating in all their encounters with the Iraqi army. At the same time the journalists could see that the Baghdad airport had been taken and that the US troops were in the city suburbs.
On April 7, 2003, the town of Basra is totally in British hands. The sight is not very nice to see, as the local people are looting all they can, official buildings, hotels, banks, empty private residences, etc. The British troops do not do anything about it because, they say, they do not have enough manpower to police such a big town. Some Iraqis are complaining about it saying that, under Saddam Hussein, this would not have been permitted. It seems that the highest Iraqi military leader in Basra, Ali Hassan al-Majid also known as Chemical Ali, died in the bombing of his residence. It is said that he is responsible for the death of 100,000 Iraqi including about 5,000 Kurds gassed to death in 1988 in the Kurdish town of Halabja. The leader of the main Shia opposition group, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, who was imprisoned, tortured and exiled by Saddam Hussein, said that he would soon come back to Iraq. He is expected to settle in Najaf. He is known for his strong links with Iran. Another Shia leader, Abdelmajid al-Khoei, has already returned to Najaf.
The second city airport inside Baghdad fell into American hands on April 7, 2003, and the troops fought back with success a counterattack by the Iraqi. However an American A-10 Thunderbolt tank buster plane was shot down by an Iraqi surface-to-air missile. The pilot ejected and was rescued.
On April 8, 2003, the American troops practically control all the city of Baghdad. There are still some resistance, very strong in some places, but it is obvious that the city will fall into American hands in the next two or three days. The troops entered at least two presidential palaces in Baghdad and the soldiers were able to search them thoroughly and have their pictures taken as "souvenir". Parts of these palaces were quite destroyed but they are so big that the destruction can be qualified of partial and it was still possible to observe the quality of the construction and the luxury of all its equipments such as furniture, rooms with huge chandeliers, and bathrooms with golden taps. On the same day the British took over a similar presidential palace in Basra. And the Iraqi minister of Information goes on saying that the Infidels will be defeated, that they do not control Baghdad and that they are committing suicide as they will all burn in their tank! It became known that 3% of the US troops fighting in Iraq are non-Americans. These people, mainly from Central and South America are fighting for the US troops and, if they survive, they will be able to stay and work in the USA.
The bodies of other eleven British servicemen who died in Iraq arrived at the Brize Norton airfield on April 8, 2003. Among the dead are five Royal navy lieutenants killed in the early days of the conflict when two Sea King helicopters collided off the HMS Ark Royal. Three others were killed in action, one by friendly American- fire, one in an accident while the last one died of natural causes. They are in addition to the ten more victims brought home last week. Nine are still to be brought back.
The only negative note was the sight of US soldiers with war paint on their face, something similar to what the Native Americans were doing when fighting the US Cavalry in the 19th century. This does not go very well with the notion, often repeated by President Bush and his closer associates, that the invasion of Iraq must not be seen as a war of conquest but as a conflict of liberation following which, the Iraqi people will run their country as they have not been able to do during the 30 years of Saddam Hussein's rule. Obviously the ordinary soldiers are not aware of it and certainly behave as invaders being there to kill as many Iraqi as they can.
Finally the US troops moved in central Baghdad and the regime looked defeated this Wednesday April 9, 2003. The troops were welcomed by part of the population, some shouting, "we love Bush, we love Blair" while some others kept off the street. It was obvious that the Iraqi troops had left and the people had no fear of them anymore. Many statues of Saddam Hussein were pulled down, sometime by the Iraqi alone, sometime with the help of the American soldiers like the latest of them -erected for his 65th birthday, one year ago. In this case the Americans pulled it down by putting a chain around the neck and pulling it down with a military vehicle. Hundred of people were cheering but, as two British anchormen said on the television, there were few people taking into consideration that around 5 million people live in Baghdad. Before taking it down one American soldier covered the face with the American flag but he soon noticed that this was not the thing to do by a liberating army and he replaced it by the old Iraqi flag (without Saddam's name on it). However the fighting was not over in the capital as some troops were still fighting hard in the western part.
Soon after the arrival of the US troops on April 9, 2003, chaos took over, as well as general looting. At first it was limited to government buildings, offices and party officials' residences but it soon spread to the embassies, hotels, private houses and, even hospitals where life-saving premature baby cots and heart monitors were seen to be taken away. And the American soldiers were looking on doing nothing to put some order in the city and protecting, at least, the hospitals. They said that they had not the required manpower but in fact they were afraid of possible suicide bombers. This chaos reminded me of the liberation of Belgium -and France- in 1944 where the arrival of the Americans was also followed by the same chaos as they could not care less what was happening to the so-called "liberated people" who could die of hunger as far as they were -and now are- concerned. It would be right to call the UN to administer the liberated country -if it is true that the USA does not want to colonise the country- but Bush and the Pentagon have other plans: Iraq will be administered by the Americans and the British but it is not clear when they will start to do it. Some people are already asking if, after winning the war, the Americans and the British are not going to loose the peace.
On April 10, 2003, Kurdish fighters took Kirkuk without any big fighting as the Iraqi soldiers fled and gave up. A few Special Forces American soldiers were also present. The Americans had told the Kurds not to take Kirkuk as this was bound to irritate Turkey which is afraid that the Kurds will seize this opportunity to create a Kurdish state that, with the local oil feeds in their possession would be very rich and would incite the Turkish Kurds to join them seceding from Turkey. If only for this reason, Turkey has put thousands of its soldiers near the border with Iraq, ready to move in and prevent any sign of Kurdish independence. The Americans ordered the Kurds to move out of Kirkuk. Their leader, Jalal Talabani agree to do it once there will be enough American troops to take over.
Hilla and the ancient ruins of Babylon were captured on April 10, 2003. The last big town in Iraqi's hands is Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's birthplace. Once it is taken, nothing will be left to the Iraqi but it could be a difficult task as many Republican Guards are there. The Americans are well aware of this and to be sure they have prepared themselves for a big fight by making certain that they have enough of their most powerful conventional bombs on the ready. These 21,000lb massive ordnance air blast (Moab) bombs will solve their problem and kill many innocent Iraqi as well, but who cares? Not certainly the Americans.
The chaos in Baghdad and Basra on April 11, 2003, is so big that both the Americans and the British are asking the previous policemen who were not directly involved with the regime to come back on duty. In Basra the British are already organising mixed patrols with them. In Baghdad the Americans are thinking of imposing a nighttime curfew! But mistakes are made and will still be made in the future. Sheikh Muzahim Mustafa Kanan Tamimi chosen by the British to become the new leader of the Basra province seems to have been a general in Saddam Hussein's army and a leader in the Ba'ath party. Local people objected to the British's choice and started a riot. And of cause the politicians refuse to see and admit the truth. Donald Rumsfeld attacked the media saying that they were exaggerating and showing the same scene of limited disorder times and times again. Well, this kind of repetition is CNN way of presenting news all the time and not only now. In Britain the government accuses the BBC television of exaggeration for saying that Iraqis are now living in "more fear that they have ever known" as chaos succeeds dictatorship. Unfortunately the media is telling the truth and the politicians refuse to see it. The BBC defends its reporters the best they can. As an example of what is really going on, it is enough to mention that some hospitals -and not only those for the leaders of Saddam Hussein's regime- have been looted too. The doctors and the medical staff are now defending them with guns but the cure of the wounded is suffering and there are more and more of them everyday. After Mosul was taken without any fight -the Iraqi soldiers surrendered and left- the same chaos started immediately. Government buildings were sacked as well as the local museum were most antiquities disappeared in a few hours.
The US troops have released on April 11, 2003, packs of playing cards to their troops in Iraq each of them with the picture, name and photograph of one of the 55 most wanted Iraqi wanted suspects. And Turkey is renewing its threat to send its troops to Iraq if Kurdish fighters fail to relinquish control of Mosul and Kirkuk. Many people are entering and searching police and secret services buildings in the hope that some arrested and imprisoned members are still in some hidden cells there or, if they have been murdered, they hope to find some proofs of it. The US Marines killed two children at a checkpoint when a car did not stop straight away as requested. There were no arms in the car.
On Saturday April 12, 2003, Saddam Hussein's weapons chief, General Amer Hammoudi al-Said surrendered to the Americans in Baghdad. As chief scientist he must know about any Iraqi research programme on forbidden weapons -chemical, biological, nuclear- if any.
On April 12, 2003, we were told that the Kurdish peshmerga guerrillas are marching on Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's birthplace and the last important town not yet in American/British hands. They were about two miles from the city that was heavily bombed by American planes. Once more, like in Afghanistan, the Americans do the safe job -bombing from high up a country that has no planes left and little air-defence- leaving the dangerous work on the land to foreigners, in this case, the Kurds. It can be assumed that the Kurds have been promised, if not independence, at least autonomy in the future and probably the promise will not be kept when the war is over.
On April 13, 2003, the battle in Tikrit went on in some parts of the city where a limited number of fighters refused to give up. They are said by the American Headquarters in Qatar to be non-Iraqi Arab volunteers. However the war is over and Iraq is under American and British control. Some local fighting will go on for sometime but no organised resistance is anymore possible. Iraqi and other Arab volunteers who refuse to see Iraq run by the Americans make this local resistance.
And still on April 13, 2003, there are no traces of Saddam Hussein, his sons, family and most of his closest collaborators. This makes the Americans, and especially their president, mad as it reminds them of Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden who, one year later, has still not been caught or shown to be dead. In this case Bush accuses Syria without any proof whatsoever. According to him and Rumsfeld, Syria went on sending arms to Iraq during the duration of the war, stored the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction so that the inspectors could not find them and now, is given a refuge to Saddam Hussein, his sons, his family and his closest collaborators as well. All this without any proof. Donald, not to be left behind, added that he knew that Syria had been testing chemical and biological weapons in the last 12 to 15 months! Every thing is possible, the only thing certain is that the Americans have a lot of these weapons and also they are the only one to have used atomic bombs. And this is true without any doubt.
In Baghdad, on April 13 2003, there is still no police and the chaos is reigning. Some angry and armed middle-class citizens defended their properties and confronted the looters on their own, creating their own vigilantes. Many of these looters were arrested, beaten and some even killed. This is street justice but it is also understandable, as the Americans do not do anything to prevent this general looting going on. As an example the local museums have been ransacked and most of the antiquities kept there are gone. Even the National Library, which contained manuscripts many centuries old and thousand of precious old books and ancient archive, was looted and put on fire. In the following days the vigilantes recovered stolen goods and arrested looters. And in Basra, three weeks after the beginning of the war, most people still have no water and only little food. The risks of epidemics are high.
The US Special Forces around April 15, 2003 captured the Palestinian terrorist Abu Abbas in Baghdad. He was the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Front that hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro off the Egyptian coast in 1985 and killing an old disabled American Jewish passenger, Leon Klinghoffer. The American described him as being part of the worldwide terror network but the British said that he was a reformed terrorist who had been living quietly in Iraq for many years. The passengers were released in Port Said. The hijackers were put on a plane to Tunisia that was intercepted by the US Air force and directed to Sicily. After a row with the Italian police, the Italian prime minister, Craxi, arrested the hijackers but he let Abbas free.
On April 16, 2003, the US troops were involved in a fight with civilians in the centre of Mosul after the gun battle of the day before when 10 people were killed and at least 16 wounded. This time there were 3 dead and 12 injured. The Iraqi blamed the "trigger-happy" Americans for killing people without reason, while the Americans said that they had been shot at and only defended themselves. American Special Forces raided the Baghdad home of the Iraqi scientist Rihad Taha, also known as "Doctor Germ". She ran the country's secret biological laboratory. Boxes of documents as well as three men were seen taken out of her house. Dr Taha, the wife of General Amer Mohammed Rashid, a former Iraqi oil minister, was not home. She is presumed to have left Iraq with Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, nicknamed "Mrs Anthrax". It is not known where they are. At the same time, the Pentagon said that the US would pay up to $200,000 for information that would allow them to locate and arrest the Iraqi leaders starting with Saddam Hussein. This shows that they are afraid they will not find him and that this will create a second bin Laden case.
Around April 17, 2003, the US Forces have much to do to keep some order in Tikrit where gang of Iraqi loyal to Saddam Hussein are still operating in his hometown. In the northern part of Iraq, near Kirkuk, the Iraqi Arabs are complaining that they are being expelled from their homes and villages by the Kurds. The Kurds agree but they add that they are only taking back what was stolen from them by the Iraqi regime. A riot broke near a bank in Baghdad after thieves blew a hole in the vault and dropped children inside to steal the cash. US troops arrested the thieves and recuperated about $4m. Australia is going to pull out its 2,000 troops out of Iraq in two months and has no plan to send others, not even for an eventual peacekeeping force.
On the day his statue was brought down in Baghdad, Saddam Hussein was walking freely in another part of the city according to Abu Dhabi television. Or at least a man looking like Saddam and surrounded by body guards and accompanied by what appear to be his younger son, Qusay, his private secretary, Abid Hamid al-Tikriti, and his defence minister, Sultan Hashim al-Thai, was talking to the crowd that was cheering him. This appeared on the Arab television on April 18, 2003. Of course it is impossible to know if it was Saddam Hussein himself or another man looking like him. It is well known that in the past he used look-alike men for security reason.
On April 18, 2003, some aid agencies said that security concerns were holding them back until now preventing their arrival in Iraq. Today a first important food-convoy of 50 lorries carrying 1,400 tonnes of wheat flour left Jordan and is heading for Baghdad.
Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, warned France on April 23, 2003, that it would pay a price for its opposition to Iraq war. And he is considered a dove in this country claiming -against all evidences- to be a land of freedom. At the same time four American soldiers have been arrested for trying to steal nearly $1m found hidden in Saddam Hussein's palaces in Baghdad. A court martial will try them. It is now revealed that US troops found $650m hidden last week and $112m again this week apparently abandoned by Ba'ath party people and Republican guards before fleeing the capital. If the money is genuine it will be handed over to the Iraqi new government.
On April 24, 2003, the media became interested again in the possibility that depleted uranium could create health problems -mainly lung cancer and kidney damages- to the soldiers who were involved with its use in Iraq. These soldiers will be offered tests to check levels of depleted uranium in their body.
On April 24, 2003, the Iraqi showed more and more their wishes to be free from US occupation. In Kut the Americans wanted 200 policemen to go back to work but at least 100 dropped out after the crowd warned them that only traitors collaborated with the invaders. Then the police station was burned down. In the same town, several hundred Iraqi were guarding the gates of the self-nominated anti-American governor's office, preventing the Americans to enter shouting "No, no to America; no, no to Israel; Yes, yes to unity; yes, yes to Islam".
A blast in an explosive warehouse in Baghdad killed at least 12 Iraqi and wounded scores of others on April 26, 2003. The Americans said that they came under fire and that a rocket fired by the attackers hit the depot and caused the blast. The local people did not agree with this explanation and blamed the US troops for keeping so much ammunition close to civilian houses. This prompted immediate anti-American demonstration; about 500 Iraqi men started chanting anti-American songs and pro-Islam slogans such as "No Americans or Saddam, yes to Islam" in the streets of Baghdad. In the meantime the schools reopened in Baghdad as life is returning to near-normality.
A hand written letter said to be from Saddam Hussein was published in the Arabic Newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi in London on April 30, 2003. In it Saddam urges the Iraqi to rise up against the US and British occupants. The letter was faxed to the newspaper and was dated of April 28, Saddam Hussein's birthday. It is not known if it is authentic or not. On the same day, the British military authorities said that thousand of troops will probably deployed in Iraq for more that one year.
On May 1, 2003, Secretary of State, Colin Powell, said that the US troops who killed two media people appear to have acted in self-defence when they fired on the Palestine Hotel in April, that it was an "accident." The soldiers were in the process of liberating Baghdad and they came under fire, their life was at risk and they engaged the enemy as best as they could firing on a hotel where it was well known that it was used by dozens of journalists. Moreover the surviving journalists said that they did not notice any shooting coming from their hotel. One more it tells the attitude of the Americans towards killing citizens of other countries.
On May 1, 2003, President Bush co-piloted a Navy jet that landed on the
USS Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln where he announced that the end of
major operations in Iraq. He did say that the war was over because, if he
had, all the Iraqi prisoners would have had to be released according to
the international laws of war. He added that quite a lot of "difficult
work" had still to be done in Iraq and that "Our coalition will
stay until our work is done". After all, Saddam Hussein has not yet
been found and there are no traces, yet, of any weapons of mass destruction.